A Review of “The Matrix Resurrections (2021)”

 

When I heard that they were making a 4th Matrix movie, I was baffled. The Matrix Revolution (2003) ended fine even if the movie itself was a mixed bag. The only thing that gave me hope was that one of the directors from the original Matrix trilogy was returning. The premise is “To find out if his reality is a physical or mental construct, Mr. Anderson, aka Neo, will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more. If he’s learned anything, it’s that choice, while an illusion, is still the only way out of – or into – the Matrix. Neo already knows what he has to do, but what he doesn’t yet know is that the Matrix is stronger, more secure and far more dangerous than ever before”. So should it have been resurrected or stay shut down?

One of the things I liked in this movie was the ideas that were explored. In the first act of the movie, it’s revealed that Thomas (Keanu Reeves) created a very popular trilogy of games; The Matrix Trilogy. It then becomes incredibly meta and self-aware which was oddly enjoyable. The film also explores some things that have changed since The Matrix Revolution (2003). A lot of these were very interesting and I am glad that it didn’t feel like nothing came of Neo and Trinity’s sacrifice. The world of the Matrix has changed and the “real life” world has also changed. The changes for both were no doubt very compelling to watch.

Keanu and Carrie return as Neo and Trinity respectively. It was great to see them both and I find the chemistry between the two to still be there. Out of the new characters, I love Jessica Henwick who plays Bugs. She is the cool rebellious character who would break the rules for the right thing. I also think Yahya Abdul-Mateen II who plays the new Morpheus is also great in the role. He does a good job of giving off a similar vibe to that of Laurence Fishburne, the original Morpheus.

However, this new Morpheus feels so inconsequential to the story that I wondered why they even bothered having Morpheus in the film. Likewise, Jonathan Groff plays the new Smith and I just don’t understand why. Like the new Morpheus, the new Smith is also very inconsequential to the story and just feels like he is just kind of there for nostalgia bait. Unlike Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan does not feel like Hugo Weaving, the original Smith. So it is very jarring when he is on screen and is spouting lines like he is supposed to be Smith when it does not feel like it whatsoever. Both of these two could’ve just been entirely new characters. It also annoys me that the director didn’t just bring back both Laurence and Hugo if they were planning on bringing both their characters back. Laurence and Hugo, to me, are both also important people to the Matrix franchise.

The story didn’t work well for me either. The first act is being self-aware about how studios love milking franchises and not doing anything bold with it. Yet this film does the exact thing it is trying to criticize. After the first act, it becomes a very generic story about saving the girl and stopping the bad guy which is disappointing. The first act also retreads a lot of the same beat for beat stuff that was in the first Matrix film. The main character notices things are off, he then meets a person who convinces him the world is fake, the mirror sequence, the red pill and blue pill stuff, the learning Kung Fu sequence. It is also felt odd having to hear the characters explain the concept of the Matrix again even though this is the 4th entry and most people watching this would already know that. The movie also has way too much exposition and people explaining things. There are moments where I felt like I was being bombarded with way too much information. Sometimes it feels like it would be better to show and not tell but this film does a lot of telling.

Another aspect that made the Matrix trilogy stand out was the iconic action sequences. However, they are incredibly boring in this film. The hand-to-hand fight scenes are overly edited with quick cuts that made it irritating to watch. There are no cool long shots like in the original Matrix trilogy. The choreography is just not that great and it feels weak. What makes it worse is that a lot of the action scenes just has Neo use some kind of force push power which screams lazy. The visuals and music score are fine but they do lack impact and are not memorable either. The film also includes a lot of flashbacks and footage from the older Matrix movies and I find it a little annoying. It feels like they were trying to beat it into the audiences head “remember this!”.

In the end, I came out of this thinking that they shouldn’t have made the 4th film. It did not feel like a story that was worth telling. This film is just pandering towards peoples nostalgia and it does not do a good job at it either. I don’t know if this is a start of a new Matrix trilogy but if it is, I am not very optimistic about this new direction.